The present invention relates to a hood opening and closing apparatus, more particularly to a hood for covering such compartment room as a battery room or an engine room for a forklift truck.
For example, in a battery type forklift truck, a battery room to accommodate a battery is located at nearly center portion of the body, and a counterweight is arranged at its rearwards. The battery accommodated in the battery room is protected by a battery hood covers over it. A hinge is mounted between the battery hood and the counterweight such that the former may turn to the latter.
The battery hood is frequently opened and closed for inspection service or replacing parts therein and so on. The opening and closing operations, however, required big force, for a driver""s seat is fixed on the battery hood. For the reason, various auxiliary apparatuses to open and close a battery hood have been proposed so far.
For example, a hood opening and closing apparatus for employing pressure type damper was disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-228087. In this apparatus, one end of the damper is pivoted by a machine frame and the other end is connected to at least one side portion of right and left of the battery hood.
Another type of hood opening and closing apparatus proposed has a torsion bar which reduces the opening and closing force. In this apparatus, when the battery hood is closed, the torsion bar is twisted, thereby the torque to open the battery hood is generated.
However, the above mentioned conventional hood opening and closing apparatus has following technical problems to be solved.
First, in a conventional apparatus using a fluid pressure type damper, it is common that the damper is arranged inside the hood. However, arrangement of the damper inside the battery hood limits the inside space of the battery hood. In other words, in such type of forklift truck that there is no space to locate the damper inside the hood, or that the battery hood only covers over the top of the battery, the damper cylinder is exposed to the outside. As a result, the damper cylinder may be damaged, and appearance is spoiled.
On the other hand, in a torsion bar type hood opening and closing apparatus, a common axis for both the pivotal hood and the torsion bar is required, and its hinge portion is structurally limited. And also, because of limited spring force of the torsion bar due to its twisting motion, opening and closing force is not effectively reduced in a relatively large hood.
Further, as for an engine type forklift truck, the same problems exist for the reason that the engine type truck has a similar structure of the hood covering the engine.
It is a main object of the present invention to provide a hood opening and closing apparatus which does not use a torsion bar but a damper without limiting the space inside the hood.
According to the present invention, the hood opening and closing apparatus for use in a forklift truck includes a body having a counterweight mounted on a rear portion of the truck, a compartment room formed on a center portion of the body and a hood arranged so as to cover the compartment room and pivotally mounted to the body.
The hood opening and closing apparatus further includes a turning lever integrally fixed to the hood, the lever extending rearward from a pivotal axis of the hood during the hood closing.
The hood opening and closing apparatus also includes a damper arranged in a space defined between the compartment room and the counterweight, the damper urging the turning lever downward.